Junk Art – Gen Con 2016

I’m not sure the world can ever have too many goofy dexterity games, as long as they keep being so fun. Pretzel Games, which brought us Flick ‘Em Up, is back at the zany dexterity game genre with Junk ARt, in which players must stack odd-shaped objects on top of each other to create art out of junk (or just junky art, you decide).

The real game is not quite as giant

When you play, everyone chooses a card from their hand and passes it to the player on their left. That card depicts one of the games many varieties of wonky parts, and you must take the part given you and add it to your sculpture. But here’s what makes it clever: after three cards, all players rotate clockwise, which means you’re suddenly working on the sculpture you made someone else build. You want everyone else’s sculpture to collapse so you want to make it challenging for them, but if it doesn’t collapse the resulting precariousity becomes your responsibility. Perhaps you’ve just set yourself up for failure.

I imagine the giant version set up in the dealer hall is a bit more stable than the normal-sized version thanks to the extra weight, but my was it entertaining to watch everyone do their best to stack ridiculous pieces on top of a flimsy stack of junk.

During my demo, four players out of six made it to the end (all parts were used up) until one player’s collapsed, sending two others to the table as well. That left mine standing for victory! (Thanks for the prize of a small bag of pretzels!)

Junk Art is a blast, and it’s instantly on my wish list. They had some copies at the con but I believe sold out; it should be more widely available later this year. Get your hands on it while you can, people! This game is just pure fun. I think kids and adults of all ages can play together and have a riotous good time. It doesn’t take long to finish a round, but I have a feeling people will be itching to play again and again.